Emotional and Cognitive Maps for Urban Design Education: A Human-Centered Design Learning Approach

The paper presents the exp-EIA© method applied to a Master of Science university architectural course at Politecnico di Milano for fostering a human-centered and evidence-based urban design approach. The method, coupling architectural and psychological perspectives, enables to investigate the people-environment relationship using Virtual/Augmented Reality technology and psychological assessment scales. The method adopts a tool designed ad hoc to collect data regarding the urban experience and represent the outcomes in various forms, including the cartographic one. The procedure includes a virtual exploration of an area through spherical panoramas and a survey investigating the area’s emotional and cognitive effects from specific points of view. An open discussion on the results with the 38 international students participating in the survey concluded the workshop. In particular, the collected individual reactions to the scenes were clustered, and the average emotional and cognitive results associated with the specific viewpoints were analyzed and discussed. Results show that some particular visual perspective constitutes robust social attractors characterized by intense emotional and cognitive reactions, whereas other points of view in the surroundings are socially negligible and emotionally neutral. This experiential approach favors practical considerations to inform the project phases from a sensory design perspective.